John Shannon, who managed NASA’s space shuttle program in the wake of the Columbia accident and returned the remaining orbiters to flight, will oversee a near-term effort to tighten plans for future international space exploration. With the retirement of the shuttle fleet, Shannon will evaluate design reference missions (DRM) developed by the International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG).
Despite growing interest from some senior U.S. Air Force leaders in exploring new architectures for the Pentagon’s satellite constellations, chances are that this “disaggregation” concept is not likely to take root any time soon, according to one senior procurement official. Lt. Gen. Mark Shackelford, the outgoing military deputy in the Air Force acquisition office, says that the momentum today in the Air Force is behind sustaining current satellite programs in production.
The U.S. Army’s Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) program is facing further budget cuts, even after potentially getting $50 million slashed from its requested $172 million budget in fiscal 2012 “We’re looking to take more money out than that,” says Col. David Bassett, the Army’s project manager for tactical vehicles.
MOORESTOWN, N.J. — Defense contractor yards and plants along the U.S. East Coast bounced back quickly after going through the weekend wash cycle of Hurricane Irene. Raytheon’s facility in Marlborough, Mass., and the company’s unit in Portsmouth, R.I., were closed Aug. 29 due to a power outage caused by the hurricane, corporate spokeswoman Carolyn Beaudry says. Marlborough union employees – and employees of Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems working there – had to report for work at Raytheon’s facility in Sudbury, Mass.
Though Lockheed Martin lost an opportunity a year ago to sell as may as 17,000 of its advanced tri-mode seekers to the U.S. Air Force for its Small Diameter Bomb (SDB) II contract, company officials say the service remains interested in its technology. The U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory [AFRL] has signed a five-year agreement with Lockheed Martin to “assess the viability of its cooled tri-mode seeker for integration onto Air Force weapon platforms,” according to the company’s Aug. 26 announcement. The agreement does not include any payment.
DEFENSE LOGISTICS AGENCY Harris Corp., Rochester, N.Y., was awarded a firm-fixed-price, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, long-term contract for a maximum $46,665,108 for radio system components. There are no other locations of performance. Using service is Army. The date of performance completion is Aug. 26, 2016. The Defense Logistics Agency Land, Aberdeen, Md., is the contracting activity (SPRBL1-11-D-0029).
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) has sent a sharply worded letter to Pentagon acquisition chief Ashton Carter expressing his “disappointment with [Carter’s] apparent lack of commitment” to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. Carter is nominated to be the next deputy secretary of defense.
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HOUSTON – Three International Space Station astronauts scheduled to descend to Earth Sept. 8 will remain aboard the orbiting science laboratory at least a week longer, as station managers wrestle with the consequences of last week’s Progress resupply launch failure – consequences that could include temporarily evacuating the outpost in mid-November.
HOUSTON — The Canadian Space Agency’s Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator (Dextre), a two-armed robotic handyman, was in the final leg of its first ground-controlled repair task outside of the International Space Station (ISS) on Aug. 29: a two-day changeout of a failed Remote Power Control Module (RPCM), or circuit breaker box, on the port side of the orbiting science laboratory’s vaulting solar power system truss.
U.S. Air Force presentations and other defense documents indicate that a major “black” surveillance and electronic-attack program is up and running under Special Access Program security rules.
Science Applications International Corp.’s (SAIC) Aug. 26 bid protest over the U.S. Army’s Ground Combat Vehicle halts all work on the program until the government rules on the merits of the case. Shut out of the running two weeks ago when the Army awarded more than $800 million in technology development contracts to teams led by BAE Systems and General Dynamics, SAIC filed a bid protest with the Government Accountability Office, the congressional audit agency charged with refereeing federal contracting disputes.
With U.S. Navy Secretary Ray Mabus’ recent acknowledgment that the service has a mind to refit its older DDG-51 Arleigh Burke destroyers with hybrid-drive technology as well as design the new Flight III ships with similar propulsions systems, the Navy should take the advice of many defense analysts and do a true analysis of alternatives (AOA) to determine the best course to take for the future fleet.
LOS ANGELES — While details of NASA’s congressionally mandated heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) still remain unannounced, Boeing says it expects to get a clearer picture of the work scope this fall, and will bid “aggressively” for a share when requirements are revealed.
CANADIAN VEHICLES: With Canada in the middle of the selection process for three different ground variants for several thousand vehicles, companies are ramping up related bid announcements. General Dynamics Land Systems-Canada says it will offer the Piranha 5 vehicle, with Rheinmetall’s Lance 30mm Modular Turret System, for Canada’s Close Combat Vehicle. Meanwhile, Oshkosh Defense says it delivered its Tactical Armored Patrol Vehicle to the U.S. Aberdeen Test Center in Maryland where Canadian defense officials will conduct mobility, survivability and weapons testing.
AIR FORCE General Dynamics C4 Systems, Taunton, Mass., is being awarded a $900,000,000 maximum indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract to allow the Global Broadcast Service Joint Program Office to acquire about 1,500 new receive suites, and about 1,100 retrofit kits, for fielded systems. ESC/HNSK, Hanscom Air Force B ase, Mass., is the contracting activity (FA8307-11-D-0005). NAVY
A congressional analyst foresees a continuing resolution that would keep defense spending at the fiscal 2011 level in fiscal 2012 – effectively cutting military accounts $40-50 billion from what President Obama had requested.
ENGINE TRAINING: Sikorsky Helitech, a Sikorsky Aerospace Services company based in Australia, is teaming up with FlightSafety International to provide maintenance training for customers in the Asia-Pacific region. The three-year agreement is the first of its kind to offer Pratt & Whitney Canada Aircraft Engine maintenance training in the region, according to the companies. The program will launch with an initial offering of 16 courses per year for maintenance training on four different P&WC engine types.
NEW DELHI — India is considering a proposal to permit civil air operations at a naval airport in the southern state of Karnataka. The Karnataka state government has approached the Indian defense ministry to give permission for civil operations at the naval airport at Karwar, Defense Minister A.K. Antony says.
